Spring man is arrested in fatal golf cart accident
A Houston-area man died and a Spring-area man was arrested on a DUI manslaughter charge after a golf cart crash at a Florida golf course community owned by Astros owner Jim Crane, according to police.
Christopher Cipra, 34, died after the crash at Floridian National Golf Club at the 3700 block of SE Floridian Drive, Port St. Lucie police stated in a news release. Police went to the club around 11:07 p.m. Tuesday, where Cipra apparently fell off of a golf cart, police added. Firefighters took Cipra to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
John Scott Hehr, 53, was booked into St. Lucie County Jail on Tuesday night, according to authorities. He was released early Wednesday after posting a $50,000 surety bond, records show.
Investigators said they believe Hehr was driving Cipra and another man to a residence inside the community when Hehr drove over a raised manhole cover, causing Cipra — who was standing in the rear of the golf cart — to fall off and hit the roadway, the news release stated.
The case has yet to be assigned to a prosecutor, according to the Florida State Attorney’s Office of the 19th Judicial Circuit, which handles criminal cases in St. Lucie County.
A spokesperson for the Floridian National Golf Club did not return calls for comment on Thursday. The Astros organization declined to comment.
In 2010, Crane purchased the golf community which sits 50 miles north of the Astros’ spring training location.
Houston DWI defense attorney Tyler Flood said people who drive golf carts in Texas would likely face a similar charge under similar circumstances.
“All Texas law requires is that you be operating a motor vehicle, there’s no horse power requirement, so a golf cart is a motor vehicle,” Flood said, adding Texas law for intoxicated manslaughter requires proof of intoxication and if the intoxication was the cause of the death.
“There’s nothing in Texas that would ban police from charging a person with intoxicated manslaughter just because it was on a golf cart,” said Flood, who was on his way to a golf course Thursday afternoon.
No other information about the Florida incident was available.